I got a bid this summer to an IFC fraternity at my school and accepted, making me the first member of my pledge class. I have a lot of things I'd like to see my potential pledge class do, and I was considering maybe running for pledge class president.

Does anyone have any advice as to if this is a good idea and what are the benefits/downsides of being a PC Pres.? Thanks!

don't get to excited about being the Pledge Class President. The only thing it does for you is that you get bitched at whenever the other pledges mess up. The older guys are going to come to you when stuff goes wrong.

And you don't get any treatment any better once you get initiated as well.

Although it is a good step to further positions in the fraternity, that's about it.

__________________
Overall, though, it's the bigness of the car that counts the most. Because when something bad happens in a really big car – accidentally speeding through the middle of a gang of unruly young people who have been taunting you in a drive-in restaurant, for instance – it happens very far away – way out at the end of your fenders. It's like a civil war in Africa; you know, it doesn't really concern you too much. - P.J. O'Rourke

__________________
Overall, though, it's the bigness of the car that counts the most. Because when something bad happens in a really big car – accidentally speeding through the middle of a gang of unruly young people who have been taunting you in a drive-in restaurant, for instance – it happens very far away – way out at the end of your fenders. It's like a civil war in Africa; you know, it doesn't really concern you too much. - P.J. O'Rourke

If you have longer term goals of running for a "bigger" office within your org, then go for it. The experience will be helpful and if you do a good job in a small and often unappreciated position folks rememer when elections come.

__________________

"A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice."

I know that for my chapter, the pledge class president was a good position to be in, but in the long run, it didn't help out much in terms of obtaining positions once becoming a sister.

My bf was his pledge class president (after the first one they had stepped down cuz he was a moron), and yea, he was the one that the brothers went to when things went wrong. It wasn't that they got really pissed or yelled at him, but they would ask him what was wrong with the class. And when things needed to be done, he was the one they turned to. When the class was expected to be somewhere, he was in charge of rounding them up. And when they didn't show up, he would end up doing things on his own. He didn't get bitched at or anything, but a lot of things were put on his shoulders. And quite a few of his pledge brothers expected him to do things for them.

But... he became a brother in fall of 07, and since then he's put on 3 big events as PR chair, including a campus-wide bowling night and a concert. And because the brothers recognized that he knew a lot more than any of his pledge brothers, he is going to be one of their new member educators for the upcoming semester.

^^^ It might be different for girls in general and NPCs in particular.

Not to mention, if someone is actually talking about RUNNING for it. I mean, we basically took 5 minutes at our first pledge meeting, people said what they would like to be and that was pretty much it. If it's a deal where you actually have to run I would say it's a little more pressure (not to mention more people in the pledge class).

I think that you might be getting a little ahead of yourself. Making note of ideas is fine but until the rest of your pledge class has been established, you can't possibly know what you will be getting yourself into. Unless your organization is much more formal than the ones I have experience with, there won't be much "running" or campaigning but instead it (pledge class president) will be a 3-minute agenda item that takes place during a regular meeting. I applaud your enthusiasm but perhaps you should save some of it for your pledge brothers following recruitment.